An Australian Navy ship carrying specialist equipment to detect the black box of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is en route to the southern Indian Ocean search area.

The Ocean Shield, carrying a towed pinger locator and an underwater vehicle, is not expected to reach the search area for three days.

Once in the area, 1,800 kilometres west of Perth, the Ocean Shield will tow the equipment at just five kilometres per hour in an attempt to pick up a signal from the plane's black box.

Timing is crucial as authorities say the plane's black box may only have enough battery power to send out a signal for another week.

So far, the search for debris from the missing flight has come up empty.

Four orange items found on Sunday, described as the "the most promising leads" so far, were in fact fishing equipment, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has confirmed.

Navy personnel say more surface debris has been spotted by military aircraft, but it is yet to be collected from the ocean.

Search crews are expected to be met by Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, who is due to arrive in Perth tomorrow to witness the operation and thank those involved.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian government has now clarified the final known words from the cockpit of the missing flight.

For weeks, Malaysian officials have gone along with reports that the final words from the co-pilot were "all right good night" but now they have confirmed that is incorrect.

Instead they say the final words from either the pilot or co-pilot were "good night Malaysian 370". It remains unclear why it has taken so long to clarify that point.

In Kuala Lumpur, the government has promised to provide key investigators to brief grief-stricken Chinese family members who have arrived in the Malaysian capital demanding answers.

The Chinese say they will never forgive those who have hidden information from them but Malaysia insists it is providing all the details it has.
Tony Abbott reiterates Australia's support for search

Prime Minister Tony Abbott reiterated Australia's support for the search, with more than 1,000 sailors now scouring the ocean for debris.

Monday's search involved a total of 10 aircraft and 10 ships from numerous countries.

"I'm certainly not putting a time limit on it," Mr Abbott said.

"As I said, we owe it to the families, we owe it to everyone who travels by air, we owe it to the governments of the countries who had citizens on that aircraft."

Families of the missing have strongly criticised Malaysia's handling of the search and investigation, including the decision last week to say that, based on satellite evidence, the plane had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

Mr Abbott rejected suggestions his Malaysian counterpart had been too hasty to break that news, given that no confirmed wreckage from the plane had been found and its last sighting on radar was north-west of Malaysia, heading towards India.

"No, the accumulation of evidence is that the aircraft has been lost and it has been lost somewhere in the south of the Indian Ocean," he said.

Mr Abbott announced on Sunday that former Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston would take a leading role in coordinating the international search effort.

The plane, en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, was carrying 239 passengers and crew, including six Australians.

Numerous objects have been spotted in the two days since Australian authorities moved the search 1,100km closer to the WA coast.

Source: ABC